Two parallel stories of jealousy and tragic consequences are told in this novel set in the Isles of Shoals. Jean, on assignment to photograph the scene of the murder of two women on Smuttynose Island in 1873, becomes suspicious of her husband's involvement with another woman. She comes across a diary containing an eyewitness account of the Smuttynose murders, purportedly written by the only survivor, Maren Hontvedt. Excerpts from the journal alternate with Jean's narrative of her own tragic story.